Unsigned British bands could reach the top of the charts, through a new music download site that has won approval from the Official Chart Company to register its tracks as sales.

Ooizit.com, which went live this week, costs £9.97 per month to bands, which can promote and sell their music direct to fans through links to Facebook and MySpace pages. The artists keep all of the royalties.

The company was previously featured on the PDA blog in February. At the time, it said it aimed to hit 250,000 users by the end of this year. The full launch has apparently been delayed, as the company claims the same number of unsigned bands as members now - 1,000 - as it did them. [Update: a representative for Ooizit says "the site has been closed for much of this year to allow development which is why the number of users hasn't dramatically increased since February. However user numbers are now increasing every day."]

However one of its members, rapper Alex Blood, has already used it as a launch pad and gone on to tour with Mark Ronson and Jay-Z and attracted major label interest.

"There are a lot of elements to gaining a place in the Official Charts, from selling enough records through to ensuring your tracks meet the eligibility rules," said Tom Fearn, the site's founder. "However, with OOiZiT.com we make this process simple, easy and ensure that all eligible sales count in the Official Charts."

The 27-year-old former DJ is a former digital marketing manager for Daily Mail & General Trust. He says he was inspired to start OOiZiT.com when he saw how music sales shifted online over the past five years, and wanted to find a way to harness that trend to help new acts.

"I see myself as a thorn in the major labels' side, a kind of David to their Goliath, rather than one of the horsemen of the digital apocalypse," Fearn said. "I think ultimately the labels will adapt and survive. Realistically, many OOiZiT success stories will go on to be signed by majors. But while that process is ongoing, it's great to think we can wrest some of the control away from the EMIs and Sony BMGs of this world."

Fearn said in February that in five years' time his aim is "to be the number one resource for new, unsigned UK music artists. We will have instigated a UK number one in the download charts and be embarking on other versions of the site for other countries and their local markets."

Legal downloads were included in official singles and albums charts in 2005, in the face of flagging physical sales. It was agreed that the charts had to recognise new methods of delivery to the consumer in order to keep the charts relevant. Downloads now far overshadow physical sales of CD singles, which have all but disappeared as a sales medium.